#hannibal discourse

[frederickchiltonsdivacup]

Engagement bots are rude.

I'm back at Hanniblr after a dissociative episode, and holy shiiiit things took a weird turn while I was gone.

Basically, you don't need to use bots to make a fandom from 11 years ago trend. rocktheholygrail was already a popular gif blog, so they didn't need 160 (or however many) bots to fuck with the tumblr ecosystem. It's just... embarrassing, I guess?

I thought we had all agreed that we were doing this thing for funsies. If something trends, it should be authentic. Seeing this shit go down (AKA watching Hannibal trend for a week without any reason) was like being a wee Patriots fan in 2015 and watching them win the Superbowl, then learning that they only made it to the Superbowl because they deflated the footballs during the AFC Championship game. Grade-school Madlo wasn't responsible for the deflated footballs, but I still felt embarrassed about it because I knew that my favorite team at the time had cheated. Major bummer!

Shout-out to @willgrahamsbigcock for investigating and making sense of everything. I had wondered why we had become so "popular" for no reason, lol, and you explained it perfectly.

I will always prefer spamming the reblog button and giving the OP an aneurysm over using bots. If someone really likes a post and wants it to be shared as much as possible, they'll hit "reblog now" to their heart's content & annoy their mutuals in a way that still feels loving and passionate. The feeling can't be manufactured or automated, and this is a prime example of what happens when you try to fake engagement. This isn't TikTok, bro!! Engagement doesn't matter!! It's not like we get money or sponsorships from posting about social workers getting sewn into horses...

Imagine trying to become an industry plant on Hannibal tumblr in 2026.

[variousbones]

Y’all GOTTA stop woobifying Will Graham.

YES Hannibal manipulated him and took advantage of him while he had encephalitis. AND ALSO he WILLINGLY CHOSE to kill Randall Tier and STRETCH HIS CORPSE OVER A FOSSIL!!!!! Not subdue him, not injure him, but KILL him with his BARE HANDS!!! AND DESECRATE THE BODY!!!! He is a grown ass man with agency and he chooses Hannibal. When he denies his feelings for Hannibal he is denying the parts of him that are the same; his darker, true nature. The first two seasons are him waking up to his power as a manipulator, ESPECIALLY of Hannibal but also, crucially, of Alana and Jack. Like for real are y’all watching the same show as me? I KNOW it’s scary watching Will have a stroke in Hannibal’s dining room and seeing the ways Hannibal has forced him to forget periods of time. But I promise you it was just Hannibal shaking Will’s person suit so the monster within could be released. Hannibal recognized himself in the other (Will) and took extreme measures. Not saying it’s morally right, it is FICTION!!!! It is FANTASY!!!! But stop denying Will’s VERY active part in the plot. He CHOSE to match Hannibal’s freak.

[dearest-k16]

Look, I've read the Hannibal novels as well but can book fans please stop purposefully finding posts by the series fans to derail it and stuff? Like, we get it, the books and the series have different "endgame" ships but.. the term "ship and let ship" exists for a damn reason. And I know that it sucks, the way different aspects of Clarice's character gets split to multiple characters, but A) it was because of copyright issues, and B) you should've directed the anger at the producer instead of the fandom. Also why tf do you guys want to harass the shippers of a mlm ship so bad it's starting to feel a bit iffy.

[make-loki-happy-again]

Okay, while I agree that Will Graham isn't just some "innocent baby who never did anything wrong in his life", I really disagree with the argument that he was always a dark and manipulative person destined to become a murderer.

I often see people saying that he was always dark and dangerous but he was masking that behind his cuteness because he is cold and calculating.

And I couldn't understand why this interpretation always makes me uncomfortable, untill I realised that it's because of my own experiences with my mental health.

The reason it hurts me to see people say that Will was always evil is because I also do have intrusive thoughts and fantasies. And they fill me with guilt and distress in a similar way to what Will was experiencing at the beginning of season 1.

The difference is that when I tell people about it (my mom, my friends, my therapist), they help me distract myself from things that trigger those thoughts and reassure me that I am a good person and that my thoughts don't define me.

The responses Will got, on the other hand, were Jack pushing him to work at a job that wasn't good for his mental health and Hannibal manipulating him and creating situations that basicially forced him to act on those thoughts. And then he was thrown into a mess that required him to fight and play dirty in order to survive.

Yes, Will does have dark desires, he is also capable of being calculating and manipulative, but before reaching a breaking point, he was not acting in those ways.

He was doing his job, even though it was hard for him, because he wanted to help people. He was honest with Jack and Hannibal about his intentions, his issues and his distressing thoughts, untill he realised that it won't get him anywhere.

And whenever I see people claiming that he was never innocent or good because of his dark thoughts I get a bit uncomfortable. Reminding myself that I am not just "an evil impostor manipulating everyone into believeing that I am good" takes a lot of hard work, so seeing people claim that a character with experiences similar to mine was destined to become a murderer is a bit distressing. Because I want to believe that we can be innocent and good if we fight against those thoughts.

This is why I do think Will was an innocent and good person, untill he got pushed into doing things he never actually wanted to do. It doesn't mean that he never did anything wrong. He did a lot of things that were manipulative or bad. But he wasn’t evil, cold or destined to become a murderer. He wasn't a rotten, broken person that we only had to wait to see become his "true self". He was just a man with mental problems that, instead of being handled with love and patience, were used against him.

There is, of course, nothing wrong with that interpretation and I don't mean to guilt trip or fight people who think different than me. After all, Will is fictional and it is totally cool to understand him in any way that makes you happy! ^-^

I just wanted to put it out there because maybe someone shares my opinion! ^-^

Again, no hard feelings or anything! If you want to discuss, please be nice and open towards each other! ^-^

[agirlwithadiary]

In all the commotion about Will and Hannibal's ending, Bedelia's ending is so overshadowed. Will may have been the most visible pawn/victim/someone who got too close but Bedelia is the one who actually faced the thick of it. And in her we see what the consequences of what Hannibal does really are. He brings your dark to the surface.

This last scene after a series of making mockery of Hannibal's captivity and advertising herself as "survivor" in an outlandish way that's almost similar as Chilton's, but in the end, when cornered, she knew Hannibal WOULD come for her. And when he did, she wanted to be ready.

Her face isn't the horror you'd expect of someone who had just mutilated themselves but it's euphoric. It's "oh. I finally see." It's the same face she had when she stuck her arm down Neal's throat and killed him. And it's pretty clear she was looking forward to sharing this whole experience with Hannibal.

"We've both been his bride" has a whole new meaning. Bedelia may have also been in love with Hannibal though it's different from will's because she's more like Hannibal than will is.

It's been so long but the layers of this show remain for you to peel back and savour. Much like Hannibal's cooking. God, I love this show. 😩

[just-antithings]

antis who watch hannibal are so unbelievable. your favorite show has a man who eats people but cant use that same logic that allows you to like that for other fictional works...? okay lol

Once saw a system who had fictives of Hannibal AND Will say they were against pro-shippers.

[onyxhellebore]

I don’t know why the Hannibal writers didn’t just call Hannibal’s antlered alter ego the Horned God instead of appropriating from Algonquian mythology in a horrifically disrespectful way. If you’re writing about Hannibal and want a sidestep, this could be a good one to use.

The Horned God invokes an array of connotations, from the duality to death to the archetypal Wild Hunt to Jungian analysis. All of these are infinitely more appropriate, both from a respect point of view and from a creative one. These aspects relate better to who Hannibal is to Will at the point when he is seeing him as the Horned God. 

[paintthecosmos]

I can't understand what people think about this show and at this point I'm too afraid to ask.